Thursday, January 22, 2009

great it's 2:35 am, and i am posting again, which probably means this entry will soon degenerate into an incoherent mass of words. i'll try anyway.

tuesday was amazing!!! dagmar told me about an article in the german daily newspaper about an inauguration party at the goya club (right at nollendorfplatz), and i got a group of stanford students to go with me. we waited outside for quite a while starting at 4, but we got in just in time to see biden walk out and get inaugurated as vp. it was so emotional seeing obama get inaugurated. the 10 euros was well spent. seeing obama get sworn in with a roudy crowd of other americans was really heartwarming. the group consisted of me, tim, asmita, letitia, tommy, jack, and waddie. amie and the frat boys were a bit late and got split from us. after the inauguration, we headed to dulce pizza for some cheap 2 euro pizza. the hot salami ist sehr gut! then off to the philharmonie to attend a concert by musicians in training. the performers were probably around my age. it was kind of sad though, i slept through most of the performance b/c i had only slept for 2 hours the night before b/c of the german test. what's even better, everyone noticed that i fell asleep. after the concert, we headed back to goya, got alcohol from the kaiser's, then headed to the inauguration afterparty at surprise club.

it was horrible. absolutely horrible. no one was there. when we got there, the frat boys, doug, trevor, sam, and jack were about to leave. we managed to convince them to stay. we had a lot of fun actually, even though stanford made up 2/3 of the people there. doug, trevor, and i got yeigerbombs, then we all danced the night away to crappy foreign music. i loved it!

wednesday we went to museum island AGAIN and went to neues museum. nothing new there. saw some rembrandts, some van goghs, lots of monet's and manet's. afterwards, i picked up some ramen, guava juice, and korean mochi from the mekong supermarket in that area. mechelle, asmita, and i then headed back to the center to meet up with amie and get some movie watching done. nothing too special

today, we had host family dinner. the food was AMAZING. i had rabbit for the first time! the bread was delicious. the dessert was delicious. the duck was delicious. but i only had 10 minutes to scarf down what i could. we had to leave from the dinner at 7 for the konzerthaus. the concert was well worth not fully enjoying the meal though.

Wow, I feel so much better today! Dogma's treatments totally worked on me. I have never recovered so quickly...ever. Well, I'm not completely well yet, but it's lookin' good! Today was a very very lazy Sunday. woke up at noon, took my time doing more of that steam in the face thing and getting b-fast. also cleaned room, did some german, but mostly just did nothing and watched videos (and snacked on nutella and bread) until it was time to go to amie's for the concert.

i really had no idea what to expect. amie invited me over b/c her host mom was having a concert/get together at her place. i do not think i've ever met so many artsy people in my life. and omg i think all the guys there were gay i think. there was one that looked incredibly british and very similar to hugh grant mixed with dermot melroney (one of the most handsome actors on the planet). there was also a guy with lots of earrings and with one of those hippie queues. ICK. he looked very artsy though. i'm sure all of them were very fascinating people, but i was too on-edge to converse with them for too long. plus, most of them were speaking in german.

so i met amie at her u-bahn stop (it was raining today!), and we went together back to her place. we were a tad late, and the concert started right after we got there. it was the craziest and surreal things i have ever witnessed. one very tall, blonde man invited amie and i, and all the other guests of course, outside! amie and i were both very confused, but i put on my soaking wet jacket again and followed everyone outside. we were led down a flight of stairs to the basement. all along the way, the path was lit by candles set in glass jars. we walked for a little bit in the dark and walked up out into a courtyard surrounded on all sides by buildings. the courtyard was kind of small and filled with an ivy or plant of that sort. there were candles and lights there shining on amie's host mom's dining room window (i still do not know her host mom's name). i felt very awkward standing there with a borrowed umbrella, not knowing where to look and not knowing what was going to happen. all of a sudden from behind the crowd came a series of barks and grunts, which i soon realized was some sort of singing. the same man that had told amie and i to go outside was the one doing this. i learned later that this was some sort of mongolian song. the guy was hidden in a corner singing and then moved back along the path back into the house, singing all the while, and leaving his audience outside. he then appeared at the dining room window with a bassoon and played a classical piece. i am not cultured enough to know what it was, but i loved the sound. the music was very pleasant, and i was very surprised. after the song, he played a jazz improv piece, and the sounds that he produced with the bassoon were very different.

after the concert, we ate! i tried mushrooms, some sort of russian salad eaten only on new years (many of the people at the gathering were russian jews), HOMEMADE chicken pate on bread, fish, jewish meatballs, and a drink made of vodka and cranberry juice (what would that cocktail be called? i have no clue). the food was so good! but i felt really awkward the entire time. i really need to work on my social skills. i do not know what i will do when i get older and have to entertain guests and meet strangers. we talked for a while but then decided to leave to go study german, but before we left, amie's host mom wanted to show us the top-secret berlinale film schedule. apparently she works for berlinale!!! now i know the movies that are playing, but i am not allowed to disclose the movies that will be playing. but i think i can disclose that kiera knightly, keanu reaves, MONICA BELLUCCI, and OMG KATE WINSLET with be at the berlinale!!!!!!!!!! haha i am most definitely looking forward to this festival. i'm hoping that amie's host mom will get us the hook up for this event, but i'm not too hopeful at the moment.

i came back around 9 and definitely did NOT study german. i am so behind. TEST ON TUESDAY. bad. i'll wake up in 5 hours to do some studying. this is what i get for procrastinating. i can't help it though. AH and i'm going to green week (an agriculture and food festival) on wednesday with dogma. she convinced me to skip german and go with her. it really did not take to convince me, and i think i'll just make up an excuse that i'm sick (i really am). we only get ONE absence for each class though. how mean is that? i can't believe stanford has this rule. i guess if they didn't have this rule though, i probably would not go to german ever.

tomorrow i start the concerto class! daniel scott smith talked me into taking this class. i think it will be very interesting. DSS is also gay. the ratio of gays to straights this quarter in berlin in insane. so is the ratio of girls to guys. there's only 9 girls out of 32 people! really, i do not understand. one would think this ratio is a good thing, but it really just makes things painful. the stanford guys (that ar enot gay) are not very mature at all. and if you would believe me, i think DSS is the most attractive guy here. in fact, i can probably say i am gay for him. shh don't let him know

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Today was a really really really long day, but I'm winding today down by putting some thoughts down and listening to some Buble!

And in this crazyAnd through these crazy timesIt's you! It's you! You make me sing

such a good song

Anyway

Last night, I met up with most of the Stanford kids at the Wienerei called Fra Rosa, chugged 3 glasses of wine because they were closing in half an hour, then went in search of a good dance club. Amie, Tommy, Asmita, and I ventured forth first to Dante Club at Hackescher Markt U-Bahn station, but Amie refused to dance to techno. So after getting very expensive Yeigerbombs at the Irish pub next door, we headed over to Club Soda at Eberswalder Strasse. We had been forewarned that the club usually has a very young crowd, but I really really liked it. I loved how there were multiple dance floors. I loved the crowd that was there and the music (although I didn't get to dance to Lady Gaga even once). I even saw some b-boys break it down on the dance floor to JT! At that moment I wished that Christophe were there with me. What stories I will have to relate to him! The experience was pretty cool, but I could not feel completely comfortable with the group I was with. Amie was a pretty damp blanket the entire night, getting on Tommy's and Asmita's nerves. Even worse, Tommy was being too forward the entire night. Ah how I wished multiple times I were with Helen and Tina or Mr. Colin.

After destressing by dancing for a couple of hours, the wet blanket spoke up again and wanted to go home. So the clubbing scene in Berlin starts around 1 and goes until (sometimes) noon, but we left at 4! haha i guess it is still kind of late isn't it. Amie and I took the U-bahn to the S-bahn, and ended up getting stranded at Tiergarten b/c Zoologischer Garten was on fire!! Because of that stupid fire, I spent over 2 hours getting home.

Then today I got up at 10:30 to get to Wannsee station for our fieldtrip to Potsdam. We were about an hour late setting out from Berlin b/c we waited for stragglers, but the wait was well worth it. Potsdam is beautiful. It makes me sad that I will not be here in the spring. We saw the major Schloss, got a tour of the inside, and walked around the gardens. The view from the castle was breathtaking. Oh. And I saw my first windmill.I was so excited I yelled, and everyone infront of me, including Knut our field trip teacher, turned around in surprise. I was immediately reminded of Don Quixote and yummy Danish cookies when I saw the windmill. haha I cannot wait to see some more in Copenhagen!!!! (Some of us will be heading there in March) Not only did I see my first windmill, I stepped on ice-covered water for the first time! Berlin is filled with so many firsts. I wish I could say it was a frozen over lake that I put my feet on, but it was a fountain. Still, it was cool, i promise.

After hanging out at the grounds, we were dismissed. Knut (whom we thought to be gay) headed off to his 3 year old daughter's wedding hahaha, and we headed to the Danish part of town. Ah it's so quaint. I love how everywhere I go in Berlin and in Potsdam is so pretty. They're cities where all the streets look like Palo Alto's University Avenue. I love it. We walked around in a big, clunky, awkward group of Stanford students before groups inevitably split apart and did separate things. I will go into the factions in further detail in a little bit, but anyhoo, my group decided to get Knut Recommended Hot Chocolate! It was so good. I got the hot chocolate with "creme" on top, and it definitely warmed me up after trouncing around in the snow all day. We stepped out of the cafe to our first rain in Germany (god i hate cold rain), and we waited for the bus to the S-bahn station. On the way, we made a wrong stop at a mall (movie tickets were only 7.50 euro! i thought they would be more expensive) but eventually made it home.

Nothing feels like getting back to a house after a very long and tiring day. I made myself dinner with roquefort cheese, prosciutto, yummy dark, walnut bread, figs, tomatoes, and cucumbers. I'm sure it tasted awesome, but I could not taste or smell any of it!! Dammit I don't care that I have a fever, but dammit it sucks that I cannot enjoy my food. Not being able to smell roquefort of all things? When Dogma (my host mom) got back from her Sufi lecture (she's Muslim!!), she saw that I was sick and immediately employed a combination of German and her mystic-herbally treatments to help me. She made a pot of boiling water with some sort of tea, made me sit over the pot, and covered my head with a towel. I sat there, probably looking incredibly foolish, for a really long time, and when I was done, she was ready with a pills called "karin," a glass of iron dissolved in water, and a spoonful of delicious honey. i have no idea what kind of honey it was, but it was so good. it's not the kind that we usually eat in the united states. this spoonful of honey was pale yellow, not viscous, and slightly grainy. OH it made my day so much better.

now here i am! i'm sorry if my writing is grammatically incorrect and even more sappy and affected than usual. i just finished reading mister daddy long legs by jean webster (dogma lent it to me), and i love the way the progonist, judy, writes. i wish i also had a person to write witty letters to. i think i would be too busy to keep it up though.

well tomorrow, i go over to amie's at 6 b/c she wants me to be at the party her host mom is throwing. to make it less awkward for her i guess. fine with me! her host mom is SO interesting. flaming red hair, horn rimmed, black glasses with polka dots on it, and really really big. not fat, just big! i love it. i went over to amie's one day to make some dinner with her, and her host mom had a guy friend over, and they were wining and dining under candlelight in the dining room! we felt so bad to ruin the mood for them. the host mom was really nice and offered us blintzs that her mom had made! omg so good. we tried them with cheese, with lox, with tomatoes, and combinations of all 3. yum. i really need to stop liking food so much. i shall post an entry soon about all the amazing food i have tried so far! speaking of which, i talked to dogma today about marzipan again! she gave me a brochure and a card for THE best marzipan in berlin. so GOOD marzipan should be mostly almonds, just a few bitter almonds, and a little bit of powdered suger. marzipan should not be those incredibly sweet nothings that people usually buy (although i do like those too). as soon as i am well and am able to enjoy food again, i WILL go buy hundreds of euros worth of this almondy goodness. i cannot wait, but until then, i think i will go on a diet. i cannot enjoy food now anyway, they all just taste like textures in my mouth when i eat. i really can only taste salty, sweet, bitter, and umami right now. it really is weird.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

I am keeping this blog as a sort of a diary to myself and a way for me to communicate my experiences here. I have made a resolution with myself to document each and every one of my experiences here, for future reflection. *cross fingers* on keeping that resolution.

So I left Dallas on Sunday, Jan. 4th for Frankfurt by Lufthansa airlines. I really enjoyed my flight because of the food and the very handsome service. The very tall, blonde, and beautiful steward that kept offering me tea and alcohol made my trip quite pleasant. I also sat next to a very pretty Israeli girl whose name means happy in Hebrew. I don't quite remember it though. When we got to Frankfurt, our plane was directed to a secondary terminal, and we had to take a bus to the main terminal. I would have thought it a hassle for sure if not for the snow. Snow, snow, everywhere! I had never seen so much snow before in my whole life. I loved getting snow in my hair and having to shake it out when I got inside. Anyway, my new Israeli friend was late for a flight, and I offered to go with her to make sure she found her gate okay. Wrong move. Frankfurt International Airport is an absolute hell. It is so spread out, and there are passport and security checkpoints at random parts in the airport as one moves from one terminal to another. With an empty stomach and a full bladder, I ran with her to her gate, which ended up being one of the very last gates in the entire place. So much pain!!!

After bidding her farewell, I moseyed back to my gate and took my time looking around. I exchanged some USD for some euros and was totally raped by the horrific exchange rate and added fee. Of course, right after I exchanged some money at the bank, I found a Deutsche Bank ATM. UGH. I felt royally pissed after being gypped, but all my anger was soon cleared away when I found a restroom! I love how green Germans are. I loved the little contraptions they have for wiping hands-- using fabric instead of tissue. I got to my gate and tried to look inconspicuous, but then the gate was changed. But it was fortunate! I ended up standing around and looking for the other Stanford students I was supposed to meet up with. It was so awkward trying to make contact with people and communicating that I am a Stanford student without being weird. I ended up finding Margot, and as soon as we started speaking English in a very boisterous and annoying American way, I'm sure, other Stanford students noticed. That was when I met Tim and Arty. Our flight from Frankfurt to Berlin was delayed by about an hour, but I had fun playing Puzzle Fighter and reading about Rome, so time passed pretty quickly. On the plane, I awkwardly made eye contact with another stranger, who ended up being Amie!

We all had a lot of fun roaming around Tegel airport trying to find Mechelle who came in a bit before us (no luck) and finding a van taxi big enough to take all of us to the Stanford Center. OMG the Stanford Center is so nice. It is located in Dahlem, one of the nicest parts of Berlin with huge houses. So the Stanford Center is at Pacelliallee 18-20, right across the street from the house that one of the popes stayed at when he was counseling the 3rd Reich or something like that. I love it, the buildling is beautiful. If I become affluent enough, I definitely want to buy a house in Berlin. German architecture is so different from American architecture. I'm sure the snow makes it look prettier, but the houses look like buildings from story books--quaint, rustic, old yet modern, and always in good taste. Anyway, no more gushing. Wow, writing this at 2in the morning is really hard on my brain. I will stop here and continue another day. I do have 2 classes tomorrow.

Good night!

Pic of Stanford students at airport. Yay for luggage carousels being right outside the gate ramp.